The field of the disclosure relates generally to analyzing a substance and, more specifically, to performing an analysis of a substance using a handheld spectrometer.
At least some known handheld spectrometers, also referred to as analyzers, have been used in a number of applications including metal identification for sorting, detection and identification of hazardous materials or explosives, detection and identification of environmental pollutants, mining, and identification of lead in paint.
At least some known handheld spectrometers have been used to examine the composition of a sample material. Examples of specific handheld spectrometers include X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometers and ion mobility spectrometers (IMS). XRF spectrometers detect secondary radiation emitted from a sample of material that has been excited by radiation applied to the sample material by the spectrometer. A wavelength distribution of the emitted radiation is characteristic of the elements present in the sample, while the intensity distribution gives information about the relative abundance of the elements in the sample. By means of a spectrum obtained in this manner, an expert typically is able to determine the components and quantitative proportions of the examined test sample.
An IMS analyzes ion mobility to determine the composition of a sample material, which potentially may be a hazardous material. Ion mobility analysis measures the movement of ionized sample molecules in a uniform electric field through a given atmosphere. Once a spectrum is obtained corresponding to the measured ion mobilities, a composition of the sample material can be determined.
There are at least two methods of analyzing a spectrum to determine the elemental composition of the sample material by means of XRF. For example, the methods include: a fundamental parameter analysis and a standards-based analysis. Typically, a spectrometer is calibrated before performing a standards-based analysis, however, the necessary calibrations are not always available for every sample of interest. Preexisting calibrations are not required to perform a fundamental parameter analysis. However, the standards-based analysis is typically less computationally demanding than fundamental parameter analysis. For example, full-fitting spectral analysis peak to background ratios and a detailed model of the fluorescence process are much more computational demanding than standards-based analysis. For this reason, standards-based analysis can be completed using a less powerful processor, or more quickly on a given processor than fundamental parameter analysis on a similar processor.
The elemental composition of a sample material may be used to determine a final analytical result of the material being tested. A final analytical result can include the identity or properties of the sample in question, such as the type of metal alloy. A final analytical result can also include identifying the presence of a contaminant, for example, identifying the presence of lead in a sample of paint. Typically, this final analytical result would be recorded in a log along with other pertinent information, for example, the geographical location of the sample corresponding to the analytical result.
As stated above, an exemplary use of handheld spectrometers is detection and identification of hazardous materials. Mapping of a site for potential contamination includes testing the soil in a particular location by acquiring an elemental spectrum of the soil, analyzing the spectrum to determine the composition of that sample, and recording the results of the test. Currently, the combined time required to analyze the spectrum and record the results can often exceed the time required to acquire the spectrum and can therefore limit the productivity of an operator in the field. It would therefore be desirable to reduce the time required for computationally intensive analysis and recording.